Listen to this article:Last month, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) passed judgment on two gambling advertising campaigns, one run by Mecca Bingo and the other by Play’n GO Malta. Mecca Bingo was cleared of allegations that one of its Facebook posts targeted children, but Play’n GO Malta was criticised for adverts that were deemed to be excessively appealing to underage audiences.
The ASA’s was ruling on a social media post originally published by Mecca Bingo’s Luton club in 2022. The post, which reappeared in May this year, challenged followers to identify Tom Hanks films using emoji-based clues. Included were emojis such as an aeroplane, a teddy bear, a rocket, and a mermaid. Despite complaints that the emojis might appeal to under-18s, the ASA issued a ruling in favour of Mecca Bingo.
Mecca Bingo put forward a detailed defence to the ASA. It argued that the post was created exclusively for an adult audience, which was supported by data showing that over 97% of their Facebook followers were older than 25. The regulator agreed that the emojis were part of a film-themed puzzle aimed at adults, not something explicitly designed for younger audiences. The ASA stated clearly in its ruling that although certain emojis, such as the teddy bear or mermaid, could appear child-friendly in isolation, the broader context of the quiz reduced their appeal to minors.
Furthermore, the ASA decided that the advert was unlikely to resonate with youth culture or attract interest from those too young to gamble, so it concluded that no UK CAP Code violations had taken place. Nonetheless, Mecca Bingo has since removed the post and updated its internal guidelines for social media content to avoid similar situations in the future.
While Mecca Bingo made the right call, the same cannot be said for Play’n GO Malta. The company was investigated for online banner advertisements that were shown in April 2025, which featured cartoon-like characters such as a superhero Easter bunny holding a silver egg, a robot DJ, and anime-style princess figures. Despite Play’n GO’s argument that these characters were part of games specifically tailored toward adults, the ASA viewed the cartoon imagery as inherently risky due to its strong potential appeal to younger audiences. This concern was amplified by the adverts’ placement alongside email inboxes, some of which belonged to children.
Play’n GO, a business-to-business (B2B) gambling content supplier, argued that the adverts were delivered through AdRoll’s retargeting platform. They insisted that they had taken precautions, including cookie-based consent and age-gating, to ensure that the ads only reached appropriate audiences. AdRoll also backed these claims. However, the ASA was not persuaded and concluded that the company was not careful enough about excluding minors.
In its judgment, the ASA drew attention to the CAP Code’s guidelines, which state that cartoons and animated characters carry a risk of attracting young people. Ultimately, the authority stated:
“Play’n GO Malta had not excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for gambling ads, the content of which was likely to appeal strongly to that age group.”
Play’n GO was told to stop using imagery that might attract children unless the age restrictions on the adverts could be guaranteed.
The contrasting rulings show how the ASA has changed its enforcement policies in recent years. Since 2022, the ASA has not only looked at who gambling adverts are targeting, but also at their inherent thematic appeal to children. In other words, gambling companies must consider not just the audience demographics for their adverts, but also the appeal of visual or thematic elements to those who are underage. As the two rulings show, it can be a hard thing to judge, but in this instance, Mecca Bingo was cleared by ASA and was found not to be at fault.
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